Did your doctor recommend an annual physical exam? If yes, then this article will help you understand what kind of tests you can expect in this checkup (Common and different tests based on your gender). These tests allow the doctor to check your vitals, weight, heart rate, and blood pressure. Additionally, the doctor can also check your vaccination status to ensure you are up to date. This also helps to detect early symptoms of chronic conditions like cancer or diabetes, and if you need treatment.
Basic tests and screenings
Basic tests and screenings are part of the medical procedure that allows your doctor to detect, diagnose, or monitor diseases, disease processes, and susceptibility, or to choose the right course of treatment. Surprisingly, it does not always include physical tests but spend time to listen to your concerns and provide counseling for your particular issue and risk factors.
Generally, basic tests are used to check your:
Medical & Family History: Here doctors ask about your complaints or concerns about your health. They also take quiz exams to learn about lifestyle behaviors like smoking, drinking alcohol, sexual health, diet, and physical activity. Your doctors may also check your vaccination status and update you on your personal and family medical history.
Vital signs: some vital signs that are usually checked by the doctor are:
- Blood pressure: If your blood pressure is (slightly less than or equal to) 120 over 80 then it’s normal. If it crosses 130 over 80 or higher then you have high blood pressure. And lower than normal is lower blood pressure.
- Heart rate: If your heart rate values come between 60 to 100 then it’s normal. However, many people also have heart rates slower than 60.
- Respiration rate: If your range is between 12 to 16 breaths per minute it’s normal for a healthy adult. However, breathing more than 20 times per minute can indicate heart or lung problems.
- Temperature: If your temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit it’s the average, however, healthy people’s resting temperatures are slightly higher or lower.
General appearance: Your doctor also tells a lot about you by looking at your health just by watching and talking to you. How does your memory or mental quickness work? Does your skin look healthy? Can you easily stand and walk?
Here’s a list of tests used to check all vital signs:
- Heart exam: The doctor uses a stethoscope to listen to your heart to detect an irregular heartbeat, a heart murmur, or other clues to heart disease.
- Lung exam: This is also checked with the stethoscope, a doctor tries to listen to crackles, wheezes, or decreased breath sounds. These and other sounds indicate the presence of heart or lung disease.
- Head and Neck exam: If your doctor is to open your mouth and say “ah” to show off your throat and tonsils. Doctors examine your teeth and gum quality to find information about your overall health. Ears, nose, sinuses, eyes, lymph nodes, thyroid, and carotid arteries also get examined.
- Abdominal exam: Your doctor will use some examination techniques including tapping your abdomen to detect your liver size and presence of abdominal fluid, listening for bowel sounds with a stethoscope, and palpation for tenderness.
- Neurological exam: Doctors use some tests to check your nerves, muscle strength, reflexes, balance, and mental state.
- Dermatological exam: The doctor examines your skin and nails to find if you have any dermatological problem or disease somewhere else in the body.
- Extremities exam: Your doctor may check your physical and sensory changes. To do that, the doctor checks the pulses in your arms and legs. Joints also get examined for abnormalities.
Physical exams for men
Besides the above-mentioned common exams, some exams are performed according to gender. For men, these are:
- Testicular exam: In this exam, the doctor examines each testicle for lumps, tenderness, or changes in size. Most men with testicular cancer may notice a growth even before visiting a doctor.
- Hernia exam: In this exam, you need to turn your head and cough for a bit to the doctor to check for weakness in the abdominal wall between the intestines and scrotum.
- Penis exam: A doctor may also check your penis for sexually transmitted infections such as warts or ulcers on the penis.
- Prostate exam: A doctor may insert a finger in the rectum and feel the prostate for its size and any suspicious areas.
Physical exams for women
Besides the above-mentioned common exams, some exams are performed based on gender. For women, these are:
- Breast exam: This exam helps the doctor to detect breast cancer or benign breast conditions. Additionally, the doctor may also check for lymph nodes in the underarm area and look for visual abnormalities in breasts and nipples.
- Pelvic exam: This exam helps to test the vulva, vagina, cervix, uterus, and ovaries. Routine checkups help to detect sexually transmitted infections earlier. A Pap test and HPV test are used to check for cervical cancer and its risk.
Annual physical exams are generally recommended to people by their doctors. Some physical exams are different based on gender. This is a wonderful way to detect the early possibility of medical conditions and clear concerns and doubts. Additionally, you build a great relationship with your doctor and pay more attention to your overall health to prevent diseases and infections.
Do you have concerns about your health, visit our clinic for professional medical support where doctors do their best to solve your issues. At Doral Health and Wellness, our team of primary care physicians aims to provide the best health care and services to everyone. For more information, you can visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, 11212 or call us at 1-347-384-5690. You can also visit our website at doralhw.org or contact us at info@mainwebsite.dialysisny.com if you have any queries. We have the best primary care doctor in Brooklyn to provide you with the best comprehensive medical care and health care services.
